Rising from the ashes
Notre Dame architecture students get a behind-the-scenes look at the restoration of Cathedral of Notre-Dame
Twelve University of Notre Dame students were gathered in the offices of Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect of France’s national monuments, on the Île de la Cité in Paris — nearly in the shadow of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.
They listened, rapt, as Villeneuve described the moment he learned that the cathedral was on fire on April 15, 2019.
“When the cathedral burned, I burned also. So, I was destroyed as the cathedral was,” he told them. “It was personal.”
Villeneuve went on to describe how he was forced to quickly put his emotions aside that day and froidement — the English word “coldly” eluded him — begin making decisions about what to do to save the iconic monument.
“She could have completely collapsed. Nobody could know what would happen after the fire,” he said. “The fire began Monday and on Tuesday I was in the cathedral to observe, to analyze and to project the work needed to save her — not to restore, but to save her.”
This meeting came at the end of the students’ first full day in Paris, as they began a weeklong deep dive into every aspect of the cathedral’s rebuilding — talking with the architects involved, meeting with artisans and craftspeople and traveling to one of the quarries providing stone for the restoration.
Organized by a group of undergraduates from Notre Dame’s School of Architecture, the spring break trip allowed them to take a behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s most anticipated and closely watched restoration projects — and gain invaluable insight into the field of historic preservation.
Latest Colleges & Schools
- Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz addresses inequality with a people-centered economyInequality is a policy choice — not an inevitable outcome — and can be addressed through economic approaches that prioritize human dignity, economist and Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz said during a recent visit to the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs.
- European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness to deliver 2024 Barrett Family LectureNotre Dame’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies will welcome European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness to deliver the fourth Barrett Family Lecture on Friday (April 26) at Iveagh House in Dublin. Her lecture, titled “Ireland, the EU and the USA: Navigating the Future Together,” will begin at noon local time.
- Notre Dame researcher explores how technology can defend democracyGrowing public disenchantment with social media often highlights how it has poisoned political discourse. Critics say its business model leverages negative emotions to maximize user engagement, fueling mistrust and polarization. Keough School of Global Affairs scholar Lisa Schirch sees opportunity in a new class of deliberative technologies and their implications for democracy.
- Keough School establishes two new doctoral programsNotre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs has established two new doctoral programs in sustainable development and peace studies. The peace studies and sustainable development programs will enable doctoral students in the Keough School to examine from different perspectives the intersection of poverty, the environment, violent conflict and peace. Both programs will enroll students beginning in fall 2025.
- Essays on democracy draw attention to critical threats, explore safeguards ahead of Jan. 6Shortly after Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Notre Dame’s Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy established the January 6th, 2025, Project, which includes 10 Notre Dame faculty who are preeminent scholars of democracy. In an effort to understand the social, political, psychological and demographic factors that led to that troublesome day, the group created a collection of 14 essays aimed at drawing attention to the vulnerabilities in our democratic system and the threats building against it, hoping to create consensus on ways to remedy both problems.
- Graduate students to present research, compete for prize money in annual Three Minute Thesis competitionNine University of Notre Dame graduate students will compete for $4,500 in prize money during the annual Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The competition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 28) inside Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business on campus. It is open to the public.